Annual

"Pea-ing on the table" jokes time. Which this year Katie found particularly entertaining "Mama, you pea-ed on me.... Mama, I pea-ed on the floor a LOT"....

She did her homework in her room this morning. They have to declare whether they've done it totally independently or not and she wanted to do it on her own, so I sent her to do so. The "20 minute" piece of work took three, including the extension task. This year's reading programme is a spectacular joke compared to last year's, which didn't impress me. Anyway, it was out of the way. She also had a long time at the piano and worked really hard to learn a new exercise. B has decided she's doing a mock exam with her in a few weeks time (she's not officially sitting all the grades, B thinks its a waste of money given the speed she's working through stuff at the moment). So, Katie has resumed syllabus-based work for a few weeks after a period of simply exploring and growing her skills with a wonderful variety of pieces. 

We went to church this morning. She loved that her cousin was helping with her Sunday school group today. It took quite a long time to get away from church, but she never minds that as it just means she gets to play more. We cycled off home again, though her leggies were a bit tired out from yesterday's impressive efforts. We stopped to get her some lunch at the shopping centre, which she ate in the glorious sunshine. I needed a couple of little bits but ended up buying her some new clothes she needed too. Including her first pair of almost jeans. I discovered H&M has a range they call "Super skinny fit" and they very nearly fit her, are really soft & have back pockets. That is, apparently, very exciting. She looks insanely grown up in them. 

Back home, she played a while and then did some theory until tea time. Then followed the mammoth pea shelling (Grandad: I hope you and Granny are coming on Tuesday, we have a LOT of peas....). When the last pea was shelled she rushed to her clarinets. She seems to have had a bit of a lightbulb moment the last day or two, on both actually. Her upper register transitions on the Eb are totally seamless now. And her lowest notes on the Bb are now comfortable, not awkward like they were 5 days ago. She is soooo delighted to show B at her lesson tomorrow morning. She's lined all her music & instruments by the door already.